The goal of establishing and safeguarding individual identity on the internet presents significant technical challenges and raises profound questions about privacy, the effectiveness of distributed public-private partnerships, and indeed, the fundamental architecture of the internet. The problem is sufficiently important that the Obama Administration established a major initiative, the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), to bring together the private sector, advocacy groups, public sector agencies, and other organizations to improve the privacy, security, and convenience of sensitive online transactions.

The NSTIC Strategy "calls for the development of interoperable technology standards andpolicies — an 'Identity Ecosystem' — where individuals, organizations, and underlying infrastructure — such as routers and servers — can be authoritatively authenticated. The goals of the Strategy are to protect individuals, businesses, and public agencies from the high
costs of cyber crimes like identity theft and fraud, while simultaneously helping to ensure that the Internet continues to support innovation and a thriving marketplace of products and ideas." (http://www.nist.gov/nstic/about-nstic.html)

This Business Network Topical Meeting will summarize the current state of the developing "Identify Ecosystem," including presentations by NSTIC leaders, academic experts on identity and privacy, as well as critics of single-ID approaches. The alternative approaches to the Identity and Trust problem will be of value to all Network member companies.